Hedge clipper attachment

ABSTRACT

THIS DISCLOSURE RELATES TO AN ACCUMULATOR TRAY ATTACHMENT FOR A POWER-OPERATED HEDGE CLIPPER. THE TRAY IS A SHEET METAL STRUCTURE HAVING A PLANAR BASE WITH PERPENDICULAR WALLS ON THREE SIDES THEREOF INCLUDING A REAR WALL AND AN END WALL DEFINING AN ANGLE OF GREATER THAN NINETY DEGREES THEREBETWEEN, AND AN OPEN FOURTH SIDE FORMING A LIP WHICH EXTENDS OUTWARDLY FROM THE BASE IN THE PLANE THEREOF. MOUNTING OPENINGS ARE DISPOSED IN THE LIP FOR ATTACHING THE TRAY TO THE HEDGE CLIPPER.

Jan. 5, 1971 c, STONE 3,552,013

HEDGE CLIPPER ATTACHMENT Filed May 21, 1968 In l I 'll INVENTOR.

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United States Patent O 3,552,013 HEDGE CLIPPER ATTACHMENT William C. Stone, Devon, Conn.; Ruth L. Stone, administratrix of said William C. Stone, deceased Filed May 21, 1968, Ser. No. 730,753 Int. Cl. B26b 19/48 US. Cl. 30132 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to an accumulator tray attachment for a power-operated hedge clipper. The tray is a sheet metal structure having a planar base with perpendicular walls on three sides thereof including a rear wall and an end wall defining an angle of greater than ninety degrees therebetween, and an open fourth side forming a lip which extends outwardly from the base in. the plane thereof. Mounting openings are disposed in the lip for attaching the tray to the hedge clipper.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a hedge clipper attachment and, more particularly, to a tray mountable upon a power-operated hedge clipper for collecting and accum-. ulating hedge cuttings.

Accumulator tray attachments for hedge clippers are known to the prior art and generally serve two functions. First, they are used primarily to catch cuttings and prevent them from lying on the trimmed hedge where they would have to be raked or otherwise removed in a time consuming secondary operation which often causes a disarrangement of the trimmed hedge, and second, the base of the tray serves as a guide and support for the hedge clipper to ensure level trimming of the hedge. The known prior art devices are generally in the shape of a rectangular element having low side walls on three sides and being securable to the blade of the poweroperated hedge clipper on its fourth side. These known devices have never achieved popularity as they present problems in manipulation to the user and are considered to be a hindrance rather than an aid. Generally, the user stands before the hedge while trimming it, occupying the center of rotation about which the hedge clipper is swung in an arc. The rectangular design of the known devices precludes just such arcuate movement of the hedge clipper, since the accumulator tray interferes with the higher uncut portions of the hedge. Therefore, with these known devices the user must constantly be re-adjusting the path of travel of the hedge clipper to compensate for tray interference. For this reason, accumulator trays, while known to the prior art, are seldom used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is the primary object of my invention to provide an attachment tray for a power-operated hedge clipper which will allow the user full maneuverability of the clipper and, in particular, will allow the user to swing the hedge clipper in an arcuate path.

Another object is to provide an accessory device as described in the above paragraph which is in the form of a sheet metal tray of rigid construction which may be easily mounted upon a power-operated hedge clipper.

To accomplish these objects, in one form I have provided an accumulator tray attachment for a power-operated hedge clipper comprising: a planar base; upstanding side walls extending perpendicular to the base on three sides including a front wall, an end wall and a rear wall, the rear wall and end wall defining an angle of greater than ninety-degrees therebetween; an outwardly extending lip located in the plane of the base along its "ice open fourth wall; and openings in the lip for mounting the tray and the hedge clipper.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Other objects and further details of that which I believe to be novel and my invention will become clear from the following description and claims taken with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an attachment tray secured to a power-operated clipper shown in dot-dash lines;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a top plan view showing the attachment device in use for cutting a hedge.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now to the drawing, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a power-operated hedge clipper 10 shown in dotdash lines, including a motor housing 12, two handles 14 mounted on the motor housing, and a pair of cutter blades includinga stationary finger plate 16 and a movable sickle blade 18. The cutter blades are secured together in a known manner by means of a plurality of fasteners 20 including bolts which pass through openings in both blades and are retained by mating nuts. The openings in the movable sickle blades 18 are in the form of a slot to allow the blade to reciprocate relative to the stationary fastener. It is not considered to be necessary to describe the power-operated hedge clipper in further detail as its construction is well known.

An accumulator tray attachment device 22, which forms my invention is secured to the cutter blades. The tray is preferably formed of thin gauge sheet metal which may easily be bent to a desired shape and which will not add too much weight to the hedge clipper. Sheet aluminum is an ideal material for this purpose as it is strong, yet light. The tray comprises a base plate 24 having upstanding side walls on three sides and being open on one side. The open side of the base plate 24 includes a forward lip 26 extending beyond the side walls to which is secured, as by means of rivets 28, a reinforcing member 30 also preferably made of aluminum to rigidify the lip to form the mounting portion of the tray. Openings 32 are defined through the lip 26 for passage of the fasteners 20 which also serve to secure the accumulator tray 22 to the hedge clipper. Since the location of the fasteners 20 is dependent upon the construction of the hedge clipper, which forms no part of this invention and may vary according to the make and model of this power device, the openings 32 may comprise holes (as shown) pierced for a particular hedge clipper, or they may be in the form of slots which will accommodate the fasteners of various hedge clippers.

The three side Walls comprise a front wall 34, an end wall 36, and a rear Wall 38, each being approximately five and one-half inches high. The exposed edges of each wall are rolled over as at 40 to form a smooth edge and thereby prevent injury to the user. The front and rear walls include inwardly bent portions 42 adjacent the end wall for securement thereto as by rivets 44. The upper ends of the inwardly bent portions 42 are also rolled over as at 46. It should be apparent that the accumulator tray 22 so formed with high interconnected walls is rigid and is an ample container for collecting hedge cuttings.

Maneuverability of the power-operated hedge clipper with its accumulator tray attachment is ensured by forming a non-rectangular tray, the rear wall 38 being disposed at an angle of approximately with respect to the end wall 36 as can be seen clearly in FIG. 3. This construction allows the user to swing the hedge clipper and accu- 3 mulator tray in an arcuate path without interference of the remote corner (between the rear and end walls) with the uncut portion of the hedge H as would be the case with the known prior art rectangular accumulator trays as shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 3.

It is believed that the advantages of my invention will now be apparent to those skilled in this art. I have provided a novel accumulator tray attachment device for a power-operated hedge clipper which may be easily mounted upon the hedge clipper. The accumulator tray is formed with high side walls making it extremely rigid to maintain the base plate planar to perform its guiding function and giving it a large capacity for hedge cuttings. Of course, maneuverability of the accumulator tray was of primary concern leading to the unique construction of my invention.

It should be understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the true spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. An accumulator tray attachment for a hand-operated powered hedge clipper comprising: a planar base; upstanding side walls extending normally to said base on three sides thereof including a front wall, an end wall and a rear wall, said rear wall and said end wall forming an angle of greater than ninety degrees relative to one another; an outwardly extending lip position along a fourth side of said base in the plane of said base between said front and rear walls; and means on said lip for mounting said tray on the hedge clipper.

2. The accumulator tray of claim 1 wherein said front and rear walls include inwardly bent portions secured to said end wall.

3. The accumulator tray of claim 2 wherein said inwardly bent portions are secured to said end wall with rivets.

4. The accumulator tray of claim 1 wherein a reinforcing plate is secured to said lip to form the mounting portion of said tray.

5. The accumulator tray of claim 4 wherein said means for mounting includes openings defined through said lip and said reinforcing plate for passage of fastener bolts from the hedge clipper.

6. The accumulator tray of claim 4 wherein said lip and said reinforcing plate are secured by means of a plurality of spaced rivets.

7. The accumulator tray of claim 1 wherein the angle between said rear wall and said end wall is approximately 100.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 26,114 11/1859 Kirby 30132X 2,510,311 6/1950 Greene 30132 2,780,001 2/1957 Altmann 30132 ROBERT c. RIORDON, Primary Examiner J. C. PETERS, Assistant Examiner 

